Hizbollah Attacks Israeli Post near Shebaa Farms

Hizbollah fighters said Sunday they attacked an Israeli military post in the south near Syria's occupied Golan Heights, their first assault in the are

Hizbollah fighters said Sunday they attacked an Israeli military post in the south near Syria's occupied Golan Heights, their first assault in the area in several years, Reuters reported Sunday.

Hizbollah said in a statement, quoted by Reuters that their fighters used mortars and machine gun fire in the attack on Jabal al-Rous in the Shebaa Farms, a remote area at the foot of the Golan that Lebanon says is part of its territory.

In Jerusalem, a security source confirmed the attack, added the agency.

Israeli army radio said Israeli forces and their South Lebanon Army militia allies returned fire.

The area, on the Syrian-Lebanese border, is rarely a target of Hizbollah.

AFP quoted Israeli military sources as saying that Israel attributed the attack to a desire by Hizbollah to affirm that Lebanon claimed sovereignty over part of the sector, which lies on the slopes of Mount Hermon, where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet, dominating the Golan Heights.

Israel says the Shebaa farms were under Syrian control until 1967, and their fate will form part of peace negotiations with Damascus, added AFP.

Both Beirut and Syria insist that the withdrawal must include Shebaa Farms - (Several Sources)